Lady Paton, giving their ruling, said the “lack of care” in the prosecutor’s questioning, had tipped the scales in favour of Sivero.

She added that the trial judge had erred in the exercise of his discretion when he refused to halt the trial.

The appeal judges said there was no easily understandable reason why Ms Guinnane had asked Det Con Stark if he had played any further part in the inquiry.

Once he had identified the photos, that was enough.

There was also other information in the detective’s written statement which should have alerted her to the fact that the officer knew Sivero had previously committed similar robberies at petrol stations and shops in Edinburgh.

“Against that background it is our view that the question put was lacking in the level of care called for in the circumstances,” said Lady Paton.

The appeal court heard that Sivero had admitted the robbery at the Glasgow Road service station and did not challenge his conviction on that charge.

He was sent to prison for a total of five years for the two July raids - plus 600 days left over from an earlier sentence because Sivero was still on licence at the time.

He remains in jail and will return to the appeal court at a future date for judges to review his sentence in the light of today’s decision overturning the conviction for the robbery at the newsagent’s shop.

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